you know what, i don't know any of it's names..lol. i know my dh's family makes all kinds of soups from sour to sweet, i did like this chicken dish that his grandmother made in october when we were there...it was sooo good, and could possible be turned into a low carb dish. it was made with tomatoes and vegetables...i'll get the recipe when i go there next week. they make ALOT of seafood dishes and i don't care for seafood. from what i gather from his family and friends in california and nyc, his mom is the number one cook in the family...she is really really good at making everything...i know she makes food and sells it to people because when i'm there she always has a string of people coming in to pick up either stirfrys or chicken adobos, or eggrolls. i love when she visits because she comes with her pots and pans and cooks all day long...well i liked it when i wasn't dieting at least lol. she made a beautiful stuffed chicken in june when i was there..it was stuffed with sausage and some type of stuffing mixture...it was really good...it's funny, they don't refridgerate ANYTHING. i tell my dh all the time i think he has an intolerance to somenella (?) because i get sick very easily from different types of foods if they go bad...they on the other hand will make some dish and it will sit out on the counter for a day or two until gone...i don't touch it after the first night lol. i grew up in a household where everything gets thrown into the fridge after we ate for fear of it going bad..germaphobic household. maybe one day we'll get there. my dh and i want to go to paris and italy, hopefully next year...after that maybe head back to his home country. when are u moving there?

Kumusta kayo!! I haven't seen any recent posts so I thought I'd chime in. Moving to Manila in a month. Any LC groups in Manila? Don't know where I'm living yet, maybe Ft. Benefacio, but not confirmed yet.

I'm stil in Phils, living in Pampanga now. Not really LC-ing at the moment, but using a lot that I learned to at least maintain a healthy chubby status vs my old fat slob status...

What I find super hard here is eating out or going to someone elses place. Rice is the main course here and everthing else is just the side dishes. Healthy food and especially decent cuts of meat is over the top expensive here, especially for the quality. Fish on the other hand is quite available and a good value, problem is I don't care so much for fish. And please don't get me started on the lack of cheese... hehe

Hello everyone! I started this thread 8 to 9 years ago and now I'm back haha. Anyone else from the Philippines here? or based in Manila, at least? Maybe we can swap tips on LC friendly restaurants, or where to get LC substitutes for our favorite meals?

I'm not in the Philipines, but our best friends are Philipino (here in Cali) so I know what you are up against. Rice, pancit, lumpia, desserts...the fish is usually battered, etc.

No matter where you live, IMO you have to cook in order to survive on LC.

When I cook here in the States, I make the same meals for the most part, but I take out my portion before adding starchy ingredients. Like if I make chili, I add the beans last, after I take out a bowl of everything else for myself. Or I make fish or chicken and veggies, and make a carbohydrate side for everybody else.

Try to make familiar dishes using the ingredients that are not starchy or sweet. Maybe make lumpia filling, and have a bowl? Or if you feed more than yourself, make extra lumpia filling, and set aside a bowl of it for yourself before making the actual lumpia rolls? Same with Pancit (no noodles for you). For sinigang (sp?), I'd make it without potatoes, then cook the potatoes separately and add them in to eveyone else's bowl.

Chicken adobo is good, as are any stir frys as long as you don't use cornstarch or other starch to thicken the sauce. Shrimp, fish...just don't batter it. You might be able to request it not battered in restaurants.

In restaurants, you could ask that sauce be held, if you think it is thickened. Don't have any idea though if that is accepted in the Philipines though. It was a long time before those kinds of requests were accepted in the US restaurants.

You might be able to convert desserts using an artificial sweetener. Not sure what else is in them that might be starchy though. I use this sweetener: http://sweetzfree.com/index.html They don't ship to the Philippines, but if you'd like to have the product, we could work something out and I'd ship it to you.

You are so right with Filipino food--we really love our carbohydrates here. Good thing we love our proteins too. I remember a Philippine university once hosted an international tournament where some of the attendees were vegetarian. Funnily enough, the organizers served them fish. When the vegetarians complained, the organizers said "oh don't worry, there's no pork in that." Lol. Apparently in our country, fish can be considered as vegetables.

I will be taking this one day at a time. Just ate at Tiyo's (a really nice, swanky restaurant), and everyone was eating rice! I ordered twice-cooked adobo (a pork dish) with no rice. I'm so proud of myself! I think it's just a matter of creative ordering.

Will try the recipes here in the future, although I most certainly have trouble cooking. I am not so good in the kitchen! What I need most I believe are tips on what to snack on, especially when I'm working. I'm tempted to munch on pork rind, but that's so high in cholesterol and I'm wondering if that's a good idea...

I don't think cholesterol you eat has much to do with your overall level, and neither does my doctor. He says about 95% of the cholesterol in your blood is manufactured in the liver, and didn't give me any dietary advice at all. Wait, that's not true...I told him I was on Atkins, and he said to stay on it, that it is a very healthy diet.

Have you looked at our recipe section here? You can click on "Active Low Carber Forums" in the upper left of this page, then scroll way down until you see "Kitchen: Low Carb Recipes". Right below that, click on whatever category you are interested in. There is one for "Quick Meals & Snacks". I have gotten a lot of good ideas there!